Published 1:00 am, Wednesday, November 17, 2004

As part of Mix It Up at Lunch Day, a nationwide program designed to help students get to know their peers, the two 15-year-olds met at a table inside the campus cafeteria.

"I introduced myself," said Pugliese. "I'd never met him before but I'd seen him in the cafeteria. That's what today is all about. Meeting new people."

Michalek responded and moved to a seat next to Pugliese.

"He looked like a cool kid," Michalek said. "It's a good thing even if we don't say more than 'hi' in the corridor."

For more than three hours, that included the daily lunch break, the school's 2,850 students were encouraged to break out of traditional campus cliques, meet new people and make new friends.

Inside the cafeteria, 20 cheerleaders were assigned to mingle with students and inspire them to wear name tags, change their regular seats to sit with others and introduce themselves.

With 44 different languages spoken at Danbury High, peer leadership teacher
Lisa Frese
said the school has many diverse groups that tend to form cliques, such as Latinos and Asians, freshmen, same-grade students, jocks, nerds and geeks and "goths," those students who tend to wear black.

Still, even with Danbury High School's diversity, Frese said "everyone fits in somewhere."

"The main goal of this special day is to try to break down some of the barriers between students, especially in the cafeteria where everyone seems to have an unofficially assigned seat," said Frese, who helped organize the program with colleague

Christopher Fay
. "We just want students to meet new people," Frese said. "It takes courage to meet someone new but if everyone is walking around wearing a name tag it makes it easier."

Among Tuesday's visitors to the school was
Paula Silverman
, a reporter for
Parade magazine
who chose Danbury as part of a model for a future article on diversity among the nation's high schools.

It was the fifth year Danbury High participated in Mix It Up, a project launched by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.

The center's mandate promotes developing ways of breaking down the "walls of division" in schools and communities.

"It's an important exercise because it gives students opportunities to say hello to other students," said Danbury High School principal
Catherine Richard
. "It's a first step toward talking to someone in class they've never talked to before or just walking down the hall."

Teyonte Best, a 17-year-old senior and football team defensive end, found himself being introduced to five students he never met before.

"This is a great program," said Best, who is also president of the students'
Board of Governors
. "With everyone mixing it up, students are getting to know each other."

Cheerleader
Sarah Ratchford
, a 15-year-old sophomore, who was introduced to Best for the first time, said she met new people all morning.

"I think some of them will make lasting relationships," said Ratchford.

Freshman
Evanis Jimenez
, 14, whose family came from the Dominican Republic, also enjoyed the program.

Jimenez, who went to
Rogers Park Middle School
, said she had been "a bit nervous" going on to high school because she didn't know anyone.

"After today I feel a lot better," Jimenez said. "I've met a lot of new people and it's worked out really well."

Jonathan Rodriguez
, a 17-year-old senior, saw the program as an important aid for the students' future.

"I think it helps our social development to grow in the real world," said Rodriguez. "You can build a lot of people skills from this."
Contact Brian Saxton